Seeing Jasmine is not believing
by NotreDame
Summary: A tentative to fix “Seeing isn't believing”. Set just after this Goliath Chronicles episode. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of NotreDame. Thank you to Samuel B. for the beta-reading.

_Seeing Jasmine is not believing_

_Author: NotreDame_

Proteus watched the three gargoyles leaving and said goodbye to Taurus, who was heading back to New Olympus.

His plan had worked perfectly. Just before leaving his island, he had cloned himself, thanks to the great technology of New Olympus. And he and his clone had left to New York City. Then he had kidnapped Elisa Maza and pretended to be her. Those humans were so stupid that they hadn't notice the new Elisa had the same eyes as a Disney cartoon character, that she was making sexpot poses every three seconds and seemed to have lost half of her brains. His clone had lured the gargoyles and Taurus into a trap and he had pretended to be the good, loyal cop Elisa Maza. He had helped Goliath and the Minotaur capturing his clone. He hadn't enjoyed being hugged by Goliath but after all, it was a necessary evil. And now Taurus and the clone were gone.

Of course he had betrayed his clone, who was now in prison, but it didn't matter, it was only a clone. He would take care of Taurus later. Detective Maza was locked in a secret place and he was now free in a city where no one knows about shape-shifters. And, best of all, Goliath and the other gargoyles trusted him.

He was going to have so much fun!


	2. Chapter 2

This was supposed to be an oneshot. Blame Tima and Calliope Foster, they wanted me to carry on with that sillyfic.

All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder.

Any kind of feedback is welcome and much appreciated. Thank you very much to everyone who wrote to me, especially to Samuel B. for his beta-reading.

* * *

**New York City**

Elisa opened her eyes, head aching. Apparently she was in the clock tower, but why? She could remember how Goliath had entered her home, apparently wanting a big hug. And then she had felt his body melting under her hands, and…

A winged shadow entered the clock tower. She tried to run to it, but stopped short and gasped in pain. The winged shadow burst into laughter. "Don't run into the force field, human!"

"Thailog!"

"Thailog? Who's Thailog?" The gargoyle approached her. It looked like Goliath. And then it turned into…

"Proteus!"

"Yes, I am! Surprised to see me, human?"

"My friends will catch you and you'll go back to your cell in New Olympus!"

"I don't think so!"

The Olympian changed shape, took Elisa's appearance and run his fingers through his hair in a lascivious manner. Elisa laughed. He was too off-model, someone would notice how the eyes were so unlike her own! "Yeah, try to take my life! You'll see if it's easy!"

"I sure hope so…"

* * *

**New Olympus**

Taurus wondered if letting the new agent in charge of the prison had been a good idea. Cerb was an Argus, he belonged to a race with one hundred eyes, but he apparently had a tendency to use only a few of them. Pity.

"How is it?" he asked while Cerb took a few of his eyes away from his magazine.

"Nothing to report. Of, yes, the shape-shifter keeps saying he has to be freed because he is a clone. Do you know why?"

"He has an overactive imagination." The Minotaur approached the cell where the clone had taken Cerb's looks.

_A/N: Proteus' clone will be called Suetorp to avoid confusion._

"There's more to me than meets the eye, let me go!"

"No way" Taurus growled.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you to use your brains from time to time? I am not Proteus! I am a clone! Proteus used me! Let me out!"

"This is the most ridiculous bull I have ever heard, Proteus. Even if there had never been my father, I would never let you get out."

"OK, I apologise for anything Proteus may have done to you. Bring your father here, I'll apologize to him too. Now may I be freed?"

"No." Taurus left, dejected. The way the shape-shifter had mentioned his dead father _as if he were still alive_ had hurt him nearly as much as his old jokes. The only thing that comforted him was the fact that Proteus was back in high-security jail.

* * *

**New York City, the 23rd Precinct.**

"Do you know where Detective Maza is?"

Maria Chavez was slightly worried. Elisa was not herself those days. According to Detective Bluestone, she had "her secrets, like everyone" but it didn't explain why she had teased one of her married colleagues. This didn't look like her. She kept disappearing, making no efficient work and refusing to report anything. Captain Chavez considered her as a very trustworthy person but sometimes, too much is really too much.

She phoned her father. He said they hadn't been in constant contact with her recently but he was not worried, "Elisa's a big girl. Yes, she's been behaving a bit strangely lately. She hasn't been phoning us very often, lately, but it can't be serious."

When Detective Bluestone left the precinct, he had the feeling something was wrong. Yes, Elisa was acting out-of-character. She seemed to have either forgotten some things or gained a very perculiar sense of humor. For example, when he had asked her how her brother was doing in the Labyrinth, she had said "yes, working in a carnival is boring but he manages." Maybe she was working too much and she needed a vacation.

His radio crackled. Someone had been attacked in his car and Elisa was already working on it. He drove to the spot and discovered that the car had been utterly destroyed. Elisa was talking to a witness, looking as if she wanted to take him into bed. She told him briefly what happened: the driver had been attacked by a monster.

"Looks a bit like a gargoyle" he whispered.

"One gargoyle couldn't have done so much damage to a car like that" she answered, pouting. "Either there were many of them, or it was something else."

"One of Sevarius' creatures, maybe? We'd better ask him."

"Yes. You drive? I don't remember where he lives."

Matt felt worried. "He's in prison, Elisa, don't you remember?"

"Oh, yes. I'm not myself, those days."

Was she losing her mind? Matt decided to test her. "I was wondering… Did your cat Starsky recover from its disease?"

Unfortunately, Proteus had spent some time in Elisa's apartment, trying to learn as much as he could about her and had found a letter mentioning the name of the cat. He frowned. "You mean my cat Cagney?"

"Yes."

"She's OK."

Matt ushered her into the car but still felt worried.

* * *

**The prison**

"Leave us alone with him."

The prison guard nodded and left the room. Sevarius found himself alone in front of Maza and Bluestone, who were watching him through the glass. Maza looked weird. "Let me deal with him alone" she told her colleague.

The red-haired detective looked puzzled. "Elisa, I'm not leaving this room. Are we partners or not?"

Proteus sighed. "You're leaving me no choice, partner."

And he punched him in the chin. Matt fell on the floor, knocked out. Then the shape-shifter elongated his arm to punch into all the cameras. And then he turned into a Cyclops, broke the glass, grabbed Sevarius, destroyed a wall and left the building. He turned into a gargoyle, scaled a wall and glided away, still carrying Sevarius, who had his heart in his boots. "What do you want from me?" he finally managed to say.

"My name is Proteus. Bluestone told me about you and what he said is most interesting. I need a geneticist like you."

"But why?"

"I want more clones."

_To be continued?_


	3. Chapter 3

Gargoyles and Gargoyles - The Goliath Chronicles belong to Walt Disney /Buena Vista, not to me. I'm not making money out of this, please don't sue. Thanks for the beta-reading, Samuel.

_Seeing Jasmine is not believing_

Matt Bluestone was starting to feel quite ashamed. His partner had knocked him down and made a prisoner escape, after all. And there was something else that was wrong but he didn't know what exactly. "Elisa was acting a bit strangely" he explained again to Captain Chavez. "And she called her cat Cagney a she. I didn't pay attention to it at first but I'm practically sure her cat is a male."

"What are you suggesting?" Maria Chavez asked.

"Either my partner has serious memory problems or this was not the real Elisa."

Maria Chavez thought about. This seemed quite difficult to believe. She could protest and take for granted that conspiracies-obsessed Matt Bluestone was imagining his partner kidnapped by aliens or she could trust him and let him investigate as he wanted.

She decided for the second option.

oOOOooOoOO

In the clock tower, Elisa was starting to feel crazy. Proteus had come one evening with Sevarius who had immediately started working on various instruments the shape-shifter had brought to him. Sevarius didn't understand how evil Proteus was. He seemed happy to work on the cell samples of this murderer. He _sang_ while working. And he was the worst singer Elisa had ever heard (well, maybe second after the banshee).

"This creature is a murderer" she explained him for the umpteenth time, losing patience. "You won't get anything by working for him!"

"You have great DNA" the mad scientist answered.

"What?"

"I had a look at it when I was working on… Demelza, Delilah, I can't remember the name. Do you know that Native American people share an enzymatic code that can be found nowhere else on earth?"

"I don't care! That guy is using you, he'll kill you without a thought as soon as he has his clones!"

Sevarius frowned. "Pity. He has the most beautiful genetic code I have ever seen. I could work on it for hours. Do you know if there are others like him?"

"The stairs to the police station are just here. You just have to go down, ask Captain Chavez and tell her I'm upstairs with a killer. Quick, he may come back at any moment!"

"Good. I'd like to have more cell samples."

oOOOooOoOO

**Castle Wyvern, atop the Eyrie building**

Goliath was just coming back from patrol with Hudson when Matt Bluestone entered the courtyard. The red-haired detective told the leader of the Manhattan clan about his suspicions. Goliath remembered things that had been worrying him, too. Elisa was acting out-of-character. She was refusing to let him touch her and yet she was acting more enticingly than Jessica Rabbit. There was something wrong going on.

His suspicions were confirmed when he tried to phone her. Nobody was answering back. A phone call to her parents taught them that she had hardly answered their phone calls. She hadn't visited the Labyrinth for ages, either.

"Lad, it must be sorcery" Hudson supposed.

"Sorcery?" Matt objected, puzzled. He did believe in UFOs and in conspiracies but not in magic. Goliath frowned.

"She was already under a spell once" he explained, thinking of the time Puck had turned her into a gargoyle. "But I don't know many people who could do that. Puck and… Demona could."

Goliath and Hudson exchanged a look. Finding Owen for an explanation was easy: they knew where he was. The explanation by itself could be slightly trickier. As for Demona, finding Dominique Destine's name in the yellow pages could be relatively simple. But negotiating with her wouldn't be easy task. And by the way, why would she cast this kind of spell on Elisa instead of plainly killing her?

They decided to ask Owen for an explanation first. Demona would come later.

oOOOooOoOO

**New Olympus**

In his cell, Suetorp was bored. He turned into Taurus once again. And then into Boreas. And then into Cerb. He went back to his usual form once again, looked at his hands and frowned. Some green stuff had appeared on his hands. It was itching slightly.

"I got a virus!" he shouted. "I need a doctor!"

"Shape-shifters don't get viruses!" Taurus retorted.

"I got a virus, maybe because I'm a clone, look at my hands!"

Taurus went to have a look and sighed. "This is not a virus, you are just faking!"

"Proteus escaped from prison by seducing a young trainee. He killed her, by the way. Then he took her form and left to her brother's home. The kid had been working on a cloning machine for weeks. He killed the boy too, did the necessary to make it look like a suicide, cloned himself into me and left the island!"

Taurus didn't ask questions. This was getting worrying. He had been feeling a bit guilty about the death of the girl, Lasa. Maybe she was too naive for being a cop. But perhaps she would still be alive now if he had warned her better against Proteus. When he was thinking of it, it was true that her brother had supposedly committed suicide the night she had been killed, which had traumatised their whole family. Could it be possible that the two deaths were linked?

He decided to pay a visit to the victims' family as soon as possible.

oOOOooOoOO

Lasa was a dryad, a partly plant being. Traditionally, dryads are pacifists; this was why Taurus had been reluctant to accept her as a trainee. They had a particular grudge against humans, who used to kill them thinking they were trees, but they were otherwise very slow and kind. The thing was, refusing Lasa would have been discrimination.

He knocked at the door of her parents' home. A green-skinned woman of about 120 or 130 years old (the equivalent of her mid-forties for a human) opened and frowned. "Officer Taurus?"

"I need to talk to you. It's about…"

Sap tears started running down the woman's cheeks. "Lasa? What do you want me to say? I tried to tell her that police was no job for a dryad, she just wouldn't listen! And why did you let her approach that Proteus knowing how dangerous he was?"

Taurus felt uneasy. It was not the same time he had to confront an upset citizen, this was part of his job. But this was about Proteus, the creature who had murdered his father. "Not only. Do you know if your son Los…"

"I'm trying to forget those tragedies, don't you understand? I have three other children and I want…" She started crying again. A baby started shouting somewhere and a boy who looked very much like his dead elder sister entered the room and looked at the minotaur, embarrassed. "Sir, my mother needs to rest and my little sister is crying, could you please come back later?" he asked pleadingly.

Taurus nodded. He could handle a killer or a psychopath but a mother in distress was somehow too much for him. The boy accompanied him, looking serious. "She is not all right. You had better not come back again."

"I see she is upset. But there are things I need to know about your big brother's suicide," he explained

"He didn't kill himself!" the boy retorted, shocked. "He had just received a note saying he could have a scholarship at the college if his project of a cloning machine was good enough so he was working nights and days. My dad says he was a genius, and he was only 55. And he had a new girlfriend too. He couldn't do that, he was too happy!"

"Do you think it could be an accident?" the detective asked.

"They said he drank weed-killer. But we dryads don't have weed-killer in our homes."

"Maybe he was using it for one of his projects" Taurus suggested.

"You don't know my mom. She would have found it in no time and made regret having it."

"Do you know someone who would have wanted to kill him?"

The boy thought about. "A jealous person, maybe. His cloning device was nearly perfect, there was just the green stuff that appeared later on the subjects. Only a few more weeks working on it and he would have had his scholarship. This was not fair," the child said bitterly.

"Yes, it was unfair" Taurus approved. "Green stuff, you say? What did it look like?"

"An abnormal kind of moss. Tell me, are you going to find the person who killed my big brother?"

"I will," the detective said firmly. "And he is going to pay for it."

_To be continued…_


	4. Chapter 4

Gargoyles and The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Walt Disney/Buena Vista. No copyright infringement is intended. Thank you very much to Samuel B. for his beta-reading.

_Seeing Jasmine isn't believing, part 4_

In her prison in the clock tower, Elisa had been preparing her plan. She couldn't break from her cage. She knew she wouldn't be heard if she shouted. She couldn't try to fool Proteus, it would be crazy. But maybe she would have a chance with Sevarius.

"So, what's so great about my DNA?" she asked one afternoon, just after Proteus had left. The scientist was working on a glass container where a clone of the shapeshifter was resting. He stepped back, looked at the clone the way an artist looks at his masterpiece and turned to the cop.

"Your DNA? What do you mean, exactly?"

"You told me there's something special about Native American DNA."

Sevarius frowned. He was not stupid and could guess that Elisa Maza was trying to manipulate him. "Since when are you interested in genetics?" he asked.

"Why couldn't I? Medical detectives do exist, you know. Last month a criminal was identified through the blood he had left on the crime scene. I'd like to know if there are racial markers in blood."

Maybe Sevarius should have been more suspicious but he thought the detective couldn't harm him and he couldn't help talking about his favourite subject. "There are much more than what you call _racial markers_ in blood", he started to explain. "In fact…"

For the ten following minutes, Elisa had to prevent herself from yawning. That man made her think of all the most boring teachers she had ever had, rolled in one. _I do this because Proteus's army of clones is about to take over New York City. I do this because he may harm someone I care for at any moment. I must look interested…_

"And what's the deal with Proteus's DNA?" she asked when the scientist seemed out of breath. "Is it more difficult to clone?"

"It is both more and less difficult to clone. The sequencing…"

Elisa waited again. Sevarius wasn't used to speaking that much. He was getting thirsty. The raven-haired detective saw him getting up and helping himself to a glass of water. She stretched an arm out. "Can I have some, too?"

The mad scientist nodded and gave her a paper cup. Proteus had forbidden him to give the prisoner anything that could be used as a weapon, and that included glasses and cups. He put a wry face when drinking his own. "It's warm…"

"Yes, it is", Elisa agreed. "I'd prefer better water or even something else to drink but… well, I guess that's all that we'll have. Pity. Do your clones look good?"

"It's not a matter of how they look", Sevarius explained proudly. "A clone can look perfectly normal and have damaged DNA. _My _clones are perfect. In fact…"

"Wow…" Elisa interrupted. "You've been working very hard for him."

"Indeed!"

"And he doesn't even let you drink anything but warm water…"

Sevarius shrugged. Yes, he had been working like mad, creating these clones but the owner of that great DNA didn't seem to be the generous type. Being locked in a small space with an angry prisoner, no comfort and no distractions was not what he called perfect conditions of work. Elisa was smiling at him empathically. They were close enough to touch each other. She took some coins from her pocket and gave them to him.

"There's a coffee machine in the precinct, just next to the entrance of the stairs. You bring me back a black coffee with sugar and you take whatever you want, ok?"

Elisa stepped back, hoping it would work. One hour earlier, she had ripped her photo from her police badge and carved the words HELP and STAIRS on it with her fingernails. While talking to Sevarius, she had discreetly put this photo into a pocket of his white coat. There was no coffee machine just next to the entrance of the stairs. If she was lucky, he was going to look further, someone was going to notice him, and then they were going to question him and to find the photo. She would be free again. If she was lucky.

In other circumstances, the mad scientist would have been more mistrusting. But he had been working for hours and was too mentally tired to think about very much. The sweet taste of caffeine was too tempting and maybe he would also find a junk food machine downstairs. A fair amount of sugar would surely be comforting. "Yes…" he said finally. "You, don't go anywhere…"

OoOoOOoo

Taurus approached the haven of New York City with the same feeling of disgust he had the previous time. Polluted air, water so dirty that a merperson would never be able to survive for more that one hour… Not that those humans would be kind to merpeople anyway. But how could they do that to the place they were living in? _They are not all entirely bad. Elisa Maza is… probably in danger just now. I don't even know where she lives…But the gargoyles do. I just have to find the castle in top of the highest building. Easy task._

Nobody was looking up and his vehicle was silent, as opposed to the humans' archaic cars. He went unnoticed to the Eyrie building, stopped at a good distance and stayed in the shadows. Goliath was talking to a blond human in the courtyard. Apparently, they were arguing. Had he been on New Olympus, the minotaur would have attacked the human and put him on prison but now he was the trespasser. All that he could do was wait.

OoOoOOoo

The leader of the Manhattan Clan growled and glided into the night. Apparently Owen couldn't help because little Alex was sick! Halflings were not immune to infantile diseases apparently and even though the baby would be healed in a few days, it still prevented him from using his fey powers to find out what was happening with Elisa. It seemed that fate was playing a trick against them.

There was still the Demona option. But before he had time to wonder where to look for her, he saw…

"Taurus?"

"I don't have much time for talking, Goliath."

Quickly, the New Olympian explained the situation to the lavender gargoyle. Goliath thought about quickly. "I see. Proteus is probably currently pretending to be Elisa. I can't understand why I have been so stupid, not seeing this."

"Proteus has already tricked people who were cleverer than the two of us", the minotaur stated. Goliath nodded, it was true but it was not very comforting. So Elisa had spent all this days at the mercy of that mad killer. And maybe he had… no, he didn't want to think that he could have killed her! "I'll gather my clan," Goliath said finally.

OoOoOOoo

Maria Chavez could hardly believe her eyes. So the mad scientist who had recently escaped from prison had kidnapped one of her best cops and he had been hiding her in this very building. It was crazy. And it explained a lot of things, even though it raised even more questions. Detective Maza had apparently lost a few pounds and had rings under her eyes like someone who hasn't slept enough lately, her clothes needed a good wash, but she seemed as sane and determined as ever. "Someone has taken my place recently" she explained again.

"Someone? A clone created by Sevarius?"

"Yes. No. I mean, he's not the only person involved in that story." Elisa started explaining her version of what had happened without mentioning Proteus or New Olympus. She could see that it didn't sound credible. Captain Chavez's face was unreadable. When the story was over, she just nodded.

"Go home now, Maza. You need a bath and a good night of sleep."

Maria Chavez could tell that Elisa was not telling her the entire truth but she didn't really care. Maza was a good cop, trusting her had always been the best option and she had other problems to take care of just now. Dozens of pieces of lab material had been found in the clock tower and there was broken glass all around the place. When Elisa had been asked what had happened, she had just answered: "the clones have broken free". It was more worrying.

In another room, Elisa tried to summarize everything that had happened to a puzzled Matt Bluestone. The clones had broken free just after Sevarius had left for coffee. They had immediately taken the looks of the first thing alive they could see, that was Elisa. And then they had grown tired of looking like her and they had imitated a bird and flied away from the clock tower. When her colleagues had entered the room, they had only found her. She had been lucky. Or unlucky.

"I'm calling a taxi", Elisa finally said, getting up.

"No, I'll drive you home" Matt protested, thinking she needed to have at least a friend with her after those days spent imprisoned.

"I'm not going home. I'll go to Castle Wyvern and warn everyone. The army of clones may already be there!"

Matt sighed. No doubt possible, his partner was really back, and she wouldn't rest before everything was over, whether he helped her or not, so he'd better help her. "Phone them", he said, handing her his mobile phone. "But I'm driving…"

OoOoOOoo

In a street, Quarrymen were demonstrating like TGC Quarrymen (that is to say, brandishing their hammers proudly and looking stupid, very unlike the frightened citizens that can be seen in "The Journey" or in the SLG comic-books). John Castaway was making a speech, encouraging violence, and everyone was listening to him in rapt delight. On a rooftop, the Trio were watching them in dismay, still unaware that Goliath needed them.

They left, thinking that staring at them wouldn't help anybody. A few minutes later, six pigeons landed on another rooftop. They turned into Quarrymen, and then into Elisa, and then into other citizens, laughing. They were obviously having fun. Then a gargoyle landed into them and turned into Proteus. He frowned at them. Something was wrong: Sevarius had told him that the clones wouldn't be ready for a week. He had also promised that the clones would be normally clever, and these ones were giggling and playing like happy little kids. Could the scientist have lied to him?

"Stop this!" he shouted.

The clones stared at him. Then one of them giggled again and said: "The last one on that rooftop is a big pinhead!" And they all turned into pigeons again and flied away. Proteus sighed again and followed them.

"Listen to me, clones!" he announced. "You are going to obey me…"

"No, you were last, you're the pinhead!" a clone protested. "A forfeit for you!"

"A forfeit! A forfeit!" they all shouted. "You turn into the biggest thing possible, or you don't play any more!"

Proteus signed again and turned into a Cyclops. The clones all giggled and clapped and tried to imitate him. Proteus shouted.

"We are NOT here to play!"

"We are! We are!" they protested. "You killjoy, we want to play!"

Proteus gave in. "All right, children, we are here to play. And I am going to teach you a new game, a very fun game, I'm sure you are going to love it. It is called 'Devastating New York City and New Olympus'."

_To be concluded…_


	5. Chapter 5

Gargoyles and The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Walt Disney/Buena Vista. No copyright infringement is intended. Thank you very much to Samuel B. for his beta-reading.

_Seeing Jasmine isn't believing, part 5_

**Castle Wyvern**

Elisa burst into the Great Hall, followed by Matt Bluestone, who was panting. Goliath was giving instructions to his clan. Without a word, the raven-haired detective threw her arms around her boyfriend's neck. He hugged her back. No word was needed. He knew it was her: she looked and smelled as if she had spent a few days with no bed, no friends and no bathroom but her eyes were hers again and she acted like her real self.

They finally loosened their hug. Elisa noticed Taurus and nodded at him. She just didn't want to break from the embrace: she had been feeling so alone! She realised then that Bronx was trying to lick her hand, happy to see her back, and she patted his head. At least something was normal again.

"Good te see you again, lass," Hudson eventually said, breaking the silence.

"Good to see you all." She stepped back and looked at the clan. She saw with relief that they were all apparently unharmed. Broadway stepped forward to hug her too and one second later, she was locked in a multiple hug involving several pairs of arms and wings. She could hardly breath. "Stop this now or you are going to kill me!" she laughed.

"You need a good wash," Angela noticed.

"I know." She finally managed to break free from their hugs. "The clones have, err, hatched. They cannot be far from the clock tower. But apparently, their IQ is close to the Labyrinth clones. I'd better arrest them now before Proteus find them and uses them."

"You stay here", Goliath said tenderly, his arms still around her.

"Goliath!" Elisa protested. And then she realised that tired as she was and with no wings to glide with, she wouldn't be able to help them. So she watched Goliath giving out orders to the rest of the clan. "Matt, can I use your mobile phone again?" she asked her partner. "I just want to know if my parents are all right."

OoOoOOoo

"Do the Cyclops again!" Proteus ordered.

The clones all turned into Cyclops, except one, who still had two eyes. Then one of them changed color and became pink-skinned. The other ones laughed and also chose fantastic skin colors, like banana-yellow with purple streaks or electric blue with orange dots. "I won, I won!" shouted one of them, who was wearing a complicated rainbow pattern. "I am the funniest one!"

"I am the funniest one!" one of them protested before turning into a clown. "Am I not beautiful?"

Proteus had never felt that enraged. It was the scientist's fault; he had fooled him! But he was going to kill him, along with that human policewoman, and he would feel better later. "Wait for me here, clones!" he shouted. "If you are still here when I'm back, I… will give you a wonderful present."

The clones all clapped excitedly, sat down and started another game.

OoOoOOoo

It was dark inside the clock tower. Proteus peered inside and saw something moving inside Elisa's cage. He was going to kill her now. No, he was going to tell her exactly how he was going to kill her, to see the fear in her eyes, to listen to her begging for mercy and to kill her slowly. That would be sweet. Very sweet.

He was only a few meters away from the cage when he realised that it was too big to be the human and he only had time to avoid Taurus's force field cell. Enraged, he turned into a giant just before three gargoyles attacked him, eyes glowing. He knew he couldn't stand for very long: sooner or later, Taurus, that human-lover, his daughter and the old one would get the upper hand. Better using trickery.

He turned into the girl, as she was obviously the less experienced fighter, and attacked her. Surprised, she didn't react very fast but then she regained her self control. The other were watching them with worried eyes.

"Father, it's me!" one of the two 'Angelas' shouted.

"It's me! Don't listen to him! Remember what he did to Elisa!"

Taurus pointed his weapon on them and one second later, they were both in a force-field cell. This time he had brought several of them with him, and Proteus hadn't anticipated this move. "Great!" one 'Angela' said. "Now, free me!"

"Free me!" the other one shouted.

Goliath and Hudson exchanged a look. "Aye, you'll have to prove us which of you is the real Angela," the elder one said.

"Ask me a question," one of them suggested.

Hudson thought about. "Well, one minute ago, one of you was mentioning Elisa. Can you tell me what kind of relationship there is between her and Goliath?"

"They are a couple," they both said very fast.

"And you don't mind it?" the brown gargoyle insisted.

"Of course not!" 'Angela' said. "I want him to be happy," the other one added.

"Even though your poor mother is dead and he seems to have forgotten her so fast?"

"I know my mother is dead and nothing on Earth could bring her back but it's not what matters" a gargess protested.

The other one laughed. "My mother is not dead, she's immortal! Free me now, you know who's who."

"It's her, she's Angela," Goliath explained while Taurus was wondering what she meant by "my mother is immortal." He freed her from the cell and Proteus turned back into his true form and forced himself to laugh.

"Poor fools, I'm a clone! Proteus is free, somewhere in this city, free me and I'll tell you where he is!"

"Nice try, but it doesn't work!" the minotaur retorted.

"Oh, you think you won? All the little clones are now causing mayhem in New York City. We New Olympians don't care about those humans but I would be very worried if I were a gargoyle with them on my protectorate."

Taurus didn't think about very much. "Do you know a safe place where I could lock him until we leave?"

"You want to help us?" Goliath asked. It was surprising. Taurus had Proteus now: logically, any human-hater in his situation would have left New-York City as soon as possible.

"It's my duty as a protector of New Olympus: I'm responsible of anything that escapes from it" he explained while glaring at Proteus. _And I shouldn't have let Proteus fool me…_

OoOoOOoo

The Trio landed on a rooftop and looked around. Broadway was carrying Bronx: the situation of emergency was allowing it. Lexington looked down and sighed. "A Quarrymen meeting just now and evil clones. We're just not lucky."

"Yeah, just add Demona and the situation is just perfect," Brooklyn added ironically.

"What do we do now?" Broadway asked.

The red gargoyle didn't really like when he had to act as the leader. But he had to. "They are probably still in the area of the clock tower. Let's look for anything abnormal."

Bronx ran to the edge of the building and growled. The three young gargoyles followed his look and saw what looked like children playing with a ball on a rooftop. "Their parents let them play in that place?" Broadway wondered. "Seems a bit dangerous."

"They are a bit too big for being children" Lex noticed. Brooklyn took the binoculars they had brought with them, watched the group through them and sighed.

"Jalapeña, we found them!"

OoOoOOoo

The clones were having the time of their lives. They had never played with a ball before, and it was very funny. They hardly noticed that a group of flying creatures was approaching them. A bark made them jump and a clone dropped the ball, which turned into another clone. "Why did you do that?" the latter asked angrily.

"Look! A doggy!"

They all ran to Bronx and patted him on the head and the back. The Trio had the shock of their lives when they saw Bronx licking the clones' faces. He seemed to like them, and the gargoyle beast had practically never failed to identify an enemy of the clan. So these clones were not enemies?"

"Is the doggy yours?" a clone asked Brooklyn.

"Well… his name is Bronx and he is not a 'doggy'" the beaked gargoyle corrected while his rookery brothers were staring at two other clones, who had just turned into strangely colored versions of themselves.

"Do you want to play with us?"

"What?"

"Play! I count up to three and you all turn into ten different things and the one who cannot become ten different things is a big pinhead!"

"I want another game!" another clone protested.

"We've been playing your game for a very, very long time", a third one retorted. "Now I choose the game."

"Do you think we looked that way when we were hatchlings?" Lex asked in dismay. "We've never been that…"

He was hesitating between 'silly' and 'ridiculous'. Unfortunately, one of the clones had been slightly more spoiled as to the brains than the others. He frowned when he heard him. "Hatchlings? I heard humans don't hatch. You are not humans?"

"No, we are gargoyles!" Broadway said without thinking.

There was a long moment of silence. The clones had been told not long ago that gargoyles were monsters and they were feeling like children who think they have just spotted a vampire in their bedrooms. A clone started crying in fear and another one patted him on the back. "You are not going to attack us!" a third one stated childishly. "We are strong, dangerous things and we are going to thrash you!"

"Attacking you? Why? You don't prefer another game?" Brooklyn suggested.

"I want my mommy!" the crying clone whimpered.

"We will find your mommy," Broadway promised while another clone started crying, too. Bronx starting licking his face and the clone hugged him. The green gargoyle had an idea. "You like him, don't you?"

"Yeah, good doggie."

"And he likes you too. But he's not a doggie. He's a gargoyle beast."

The clones thought hard. This nice doggie was a gargoyle. But gargoyles were supposed to be evil. But this gargoyle was nice, undoubtedly. But Proteus had told them that gargoyles were all evil…

So Proteus had been lying. It was really disturbing. If he was a liar, who could they trust?

"So you four are gargoyles?" the stupidest clone asked.

"Yes, we are," Lexington explained patiently with the feeling he was talking to baby Alex.

"And downstairs, there are humans?" he asked again while glancing at the Quarrymen.

"No, they are Quarrymen, nasty beings."

"Nasty beings," he repeated. "Not good. I want to attack the Quarrymen."

"I want it too!" another clone added.

The three gargoyles exchanged looks. "I would have never thought I'd say something like that one day but we cannot let them do that," Brooklyn mumbled. "We have to… protect the Quarrymen from them!"

"What about playing another game, kids?" Broadway suggested in a faint voice.

OoOoOOoo

**The same rooftop, one hour later**

The Trio were apparently exhausted when Taurus, Goliath, Hudson and Angela found them. Bronx, who had been carrying the 'kids' on his back practically without a pause, seemed about to collapse. The clones themselves looked calmer. "Hello, do you want to play with us?" one of them asked.

The New Olympian was about to fire his weapon on them. The aqua gargoyle protested. "No, they are not dangerous! I mean, they are not deadly…"

"Are you my mommy?" a clone asked Angela.

Explanations ensued, everyone avoiding pronouncing the name of Proteus, as nobody knew how the clones could react to it. He was about to be sent back to New Olympus. But there was another problem. What could they do with the clones?

"We cannot keep them in the castle", Goliath said thoughtfully.

"In New Olympus, we have special services for mentally disabled people", Taurus reassured him. "They will teach them to work for the community, and to use…"

"Are you my daddy?" a clone asked him.

His daddy? The minotaur felt sick. This creature's 'father' had killed his own father! He had also tried to destroy New Olympus, recently killed two innocent dryads in cold blood… And someone who looked like him wanted to call him 'Daddy!'

Well, after all, it was not their fault if they had been 'fathered' by a mad murderer.

"I'm not your daddy. But I'm going to take you to your new home."

OoOoOOoo

A few hours later, Proteus was locked back in his cell in New Olympus. The six clones were left in the social services' care. Nobody in New York City ever heard of them again.

In New Olympus, people finally got used to having doubles of a dangerous murderer behaving like children around them.

A few days later, in prison, Anton Sevarius was told that he had a visit. He jumped when he saw Elisa Maza. She guessed what he was thinking. "It's me. Not the 'beautiful specimen' again," she reassured him.

"Oh. You came to scoff at me?" he asked.

"No. In fact, I came to thank you for, well, having made the copies less dangerous than the original."

Sevarius grinned. "And in those working conditions, determining the subjects' mindsets was not an easy task!" he said proudly.

"I know. What did you tell the police exactly?"

"Why? You're worried about your winged friends?"

She frowned. "You accused the gargoyles?"

"What else could I do? I couldn't tell that I had kidnapped myself!"

Elisa sighed inwardly. It was going on again. Every time she had the feeling things were going better for her and the clan, her hopes were dashed. "You cannot prove that a gargoyle attacked you," she objected.

"You cannot prove that the thing that attacked me was not a gargoyle!"

Elisa clenched her fists. "Well, I hope you enjoy the place where you are because you are going to stay here for a very long time."

"Hey, I made silly clones to help you, can't you help me too?" he pleaded.

She laughed and left the room.

_The end._


End file.
